Stories

Leaders-for-a-Day: An incredible journey for my students

After 10 years devoted to the education at Colegio de Fomento Los Robles, placed in Asturias (Spain), this kind of experiences have been revealed as a different way to educate, teach and lead young people, which are nowadays especially attractive and interesting to them. 

The cultural exchange experienced during these days in Belgium has supposed a formative impact on teenagers, difficult to be matched and impossible to be transmitted in classrooms.

New horizons have to be opened up for young people of the 21st century. Hopefully, by broadening their culture and their social relationships, and learning about other societies and different ways of being, they will open their minds, they will understand the world we live in. A world where immediate results are expected and imposed by society, hampering us to value other things which usually could be more important. Due to this fact, it is especially relevant to educate young people to be sensible and patient, to struggle to get things done: helping young people to consider what they want without being carried away by the wave of utilitarianism, pragmatism and materialism.

From my point of view, the initiative “Leaders for a day” confers them the tools required to undertake a project, teach them the essential abilities and skills for the current labour market and also show them at first-hand what a businessman, members of the parliament or executives do. Moreover, they have the opportunity to meet new people, making easier this cultural exchange so necessary for an effective and deep education and preventing them to fall into superficiality.

I am graduated in Administration and Direction of Companies, and I hold a Master’s degree in Direction of Educational Centres. I have been an executive director and teacher for 8 years at Colegio de Fomento Los Robles. I am the Director of a centre for young people which provides a varied programme of activities within a friendly environment and offers personal advice. In my opinion, these educational initiatives, designed to foster a creative spirit in young people, are incomparable. 

I would like to express my gratitude to Junior Achievement for the work and effort put for the development of these projects. These events make possible the training of young people, which lay the foundations for a better society.

Written by Fernando Bárcena Dahl, a JA Teacher from Spain.